Adventures in genealogy

10 Essential Books in My Genealogical Library

The 56th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy asks us to tell about the ten books we can’t do without. I thought this would be hard at first for two reasons. First, when I first decided to learn how to research my roots in 1989, my friend Marie and I had no idea how to go about it. So, we headed straight for the library and came out with an armful of books. Those basic “how to” books taught us how to get started, and neither of us have stopped since. But, because I got many of these books from the library, I wasn’t sure I had many genealogy-related books in my personal library. Second, much of the specific information I need to look up today related to genealogy I find online – something that you couldn’t do in 1989. Despite these two reasons, I went to my library shelves and was happy to find that I had at least ten books that are worthy of praise. Hopefully you’ll find at least one interesting enough to add it to your own library. My ten essential books are:

1. The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy, edited by Arlene Eakle and Johni Cerny (Ancestry Publishing, Salt Lake City, UT, 1984). If you’re looking for the most up-to-date genealogical resource book, this won’t be it. But for a beginner in 1989, this 700+ page book taught me almost everything I needed to know on all aspects of genealogy from “major record sources” to resources unique to different ethnic groups. Appendices provided the kind of information we all google daily, like addresses on societies, archives, and libraries in every state. Apparently there is now a Third Edition with different editors (but the same title) that was published in 1996. If you’re a beginner, I highly recommend it. You will consult it many times over and it’s well worth the hefty cost.

2. Polish Roots by Rosemary A. Chorzempa (Genealogical Publishing Co. Inc., Baltimore, MD, 1993). Again, this was one of the first books I acquired when I began my genealogical research. It contains all of the basics from where to start in the United States to what’s available in Poland. There are also chapters on Polish Genealogical Societies, geographic areas of Poland, surnames, and the Polish language. According to Amazon.com, this book was updated in 2000.

3. If I Can, You Can Decipher Germanic Recordsby Edna M. Bentz (Self-published, San Diego, CA, 1982). Simply put, I doubt that I could have ever found a name in handwritten German church records without first devouring this book. What makes it unique is that it has actual samples of what the handwriting styles look like instead of merely a list of German to English translations of common words found in the records. When a German “B” resembles a “L” and an “e” looks like our “r”, do you really think I could have traced my Bergmeister ancestors without this book?

4. Germanic Genealogy, Second Edition by Edward R. Brandt, Ph.D., Mary Bellingham, Kent Cutkomp, Kermit Frye, Patricia A. Lowe (Germanic Genealogical Society, St. Paul, MN, 1997). This is another compendium of where to find basic info, only specific to Germanic peoples. It has everything from how to find the immigrant’s place of origin to place names and more. There are now newer books out there, but this one is still in print.

5. Following the Paper Trail: A Multilingual Translation Guideby Jonathan D. Shea and William F. Hoffman (Avotaynu, Inc. Teaneck, NJ, 1994). This bookoffers help with German, Swedish, French, Italian, Latin, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Czech, Polish, Russian, Hungarian, and Lithuanian genealogical records. Talk about being worth it – you won’t get that much help for the money anywhere else!

6.In Their Words: A Genealogist’s Translation Guide to Polish, German, Latin, and Russian Documents, Volume I: Polishby Jonathan D. Shea and William F. Hoffman (Language & Lineage Press, New Britain, CT, 2000). Jonathan and Fred do it again, only bigger and better. If you are researching documents in these languages, this guide is indispensable with nearly 400 pages of record samples, translations, and explanations about the Polish language and handwriting. Only native Poles can decipher Polish records without the help that’s found in this book!

7. Polish Surnames: Origins and Meanings, Second Edition by William F. Hoffman (Polish Genealogical Society of America, Chicago, IL, 1997). I’ve extolled “Fred” Hoffman recently in my 4-part interview. If you have Polish ancestry and you want to know anything about your surnames, you need this book for the clues about what the names mean and where they may have originated.

8. First Names of the Polish Commonwealth: Origins and Meanings by William F. Hoffman and George W. Helon (Polish Genealogical Society of America, Chicago, IL, 1998). “Polish” first names come from many different languages; this book sorts it all out and carefully explains their origins and meanings.

9. Häuserchronik der Stadt Pfaffenhofen a.d. Ilm by Heinrich Streidl (W. Ludwig Verlag, Pfaffenhofen, 1982). One of my earlier posts describes a häuserchronik as a city directory listed by street address that happens to include personal information such as occupations, spouses, and deed transactions. This book was given to me on my first visit to my great-grandparents’ hometown, and I quickly went back a few generations with the information it contained. If you have German ancestry, read my post noted above to see where to find out if your town has one of these books available.

10. Stadt Pfaffenhofen a.d. Ilmby Heinrich Streidl (W. Ludwig Verlag, Pfaffenhofen, 1979). This is a 400+ page history book about my great-grandparents’ town. It’s in German, which I can’t read at all. But, it doesn’t stop me from trying!

Those are my top ten “essential” genealogy books in addition to a very detailed atlas of Poland and several dictionaries (English, Latin, German, and Polish). As I said, I find a lot of information these days online. But, I’ll always need books. On my “to buy” list are Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspaceby Elizabeth Shown Mills and In Their Words: A Genealogist’s Translation Guide to Polish, German, Latin, and Russian Documents, Volume III: Latinby Jonathan D. Shea and William F. Hoffman which may be published later this year (read Fred Hoffman’s answer on what we can expect to see here). I’m also looking for more local history books on Northeast Philadelphia where I spent most of my life.